I Do
by Truthtakestime
Summary: AU. Lauren hires Sydney to plan her and Michael Vaughn's wedding, unaware of the past that is shared between her wedding planner and her husband-to-be....
1. Default Chapter

_hey!_

_This story is totally AU :) It does involve a little L/V but the main ship is S/V! _

**Chapter 1**

"Good morning sweetheart." Lauren kissed her fiancé as she walked into the kitchen. Michael Vaughn was sat at the table, the New York Times laid open infront of him and a mug of coffee in his hand.  
"Morning. You sleep ok?" He smiled at her as she poured herself some coffee.  
Taking a seat opposite him, she smiled back. "Yeah, although I did keep having dreams about the wedding." Michael rolled his eyes and laughed. "You're becoming obsessed, you do realize that right?"

She reached across the table and playfully hit him, her cheeks reddening. "Excuse me for being a little excited about our big day!" She retorted, and slid the newspaper away from him so she could read it. She glanced up at him and pouted, before turning over the sports section that he had been reading.

"Lauren," she looked up at him curiously as he motioned for her to come over to him. She remained seated for a couple more seconds before standing up and walking around the table to where he sat. Once she was sat on his knee, he continued talking. "I was just joking about the wedding. It means a lot to me too."

She smiled, and wrapped her arm around his shoulders, her hand playing with the collar of his shirt. "I know it does." She gave him a quick kiss. "But seeing as you already think that I'm obsessed, I have an idea about the wedding…"

"Am I going to like this idea?" Ever since he had proposed, Lauren had been coming up with random ideas about the wedding, but most of the ideas he had managed to dismiss.

She laughed, her smile widening. "I don't know, let's see. So do you remember Helen? We went to her wedding a couple of months ago…" He nodded. "Well I was talking to her at the office the other day, and I was telling her how stressful the whole planning thing is. And she suggested that we should get somebody to help us." She smiled, watching his face for any sign of a reaction.

"You want a wedding planner?" He had to try hard not to laugh in her face. Everyone that he knew planned their own wedding; it was meant to be part of the fun of getting married.

"Yeah, if you want to put a label on it. So, Helen gave me the number of the woman who planned her wedding, Sydney something... Anyways, she is meant to be the best wedding planner in New York City, and I think we should give her a call."

Lauren stood up and pulled him to stand beside her. She could tell that he wasn't too thrilled with the idea.

"Could we not just plan it ourselves?"

"Michael, I'm at the office most days till late, and you're always busy with school. I think it would just be easier for both of us if we gave this woman a call. We could at least see what she's like and then make a decision…."

Michael glanced at the clock and sighed. "I'm gonna be late for work." He put on his jacket and grabbed his bag. He went to walk out of the kitchen but she stopped him.

"So can I call her?" She smiled sweetly at him and he found it impossible to say no to her. All he wanted was to make her happy.

"Sure. But I want a normal wedding Lauren, if she starts coming up with strange ideas then she has to go…"

"Ok. Deal." She placed a kiss on his cheek and grabbed her own jacket. "I'll call her this afternoon."

"I'm standing infront of the cake now, and trust me it is not the one that I ordered. I specifically asked for there to be four tiers, and looking at the cake I can only see two. And correct me if I'm wrong, but I appear to be missing something here. So here is what we are going to do… you are going to get your ass over here with my other two pieces of cake and I may not tell your supervisor." Before he had a chance to respond, she hung up the phone. "Jackass."

Sydney Bristow sighed and rubbed away the migraine that she could feel coming. She often asked herself why she does what she does for a living, when there were many other less stressful jobs that she could be doing. Before she had time to answer her own question, her cell phone rang again.

She flipped it up and walked out of the room to get some fresh air. "Sydney Bristow?"

"Er… hi this is Lauren Reed, I'm looking for a wedding planner…"

"Well you called the right number."

"Great."

"Listen Miss Reed I'm a little busy right now, but how about you come down to my office in a couple of hours and we can talk?" Sydney suggested, as she spotted the bride-to-be of the latest wedding that she was planning, walking towards her. She smiled at her and whispered that she would be with her in a minute. Lauren agreed and Sydney quickly gave her the address of her office.

Later that day, Sydney was in her office typing on her computer, when there was a knock on her door.

"Come in." She called, her eyes still glued to her computer screen.

Her assistant, Steph, poked her head through the door. "Miss Bristow, there's a Lauren Reed here to see you."

Sydney smiled and closed down the file that she had been working on. "Send her in." Steph nodded and exited the room, only to be replaced seconds later by a tall, blonde woman.

"You must be Miss Reed." Sydney stood up from behind her desk and walked towards her, her right hand extended.

"Yes, but please call me Lauren." Lauren shook Sydney's hand and smiled. "Thank you for seeing me."

"It's no problem. Please, take a seat." She motioned to the chair that was on the other side of her desk, and returned to her own seat. "Congratulations on your engagement." Sydney nodded towards the diamond that was sitting on Lauren's wedding finger.

Bringing her hand up infront of her face, Lauren examined her ring for the thousandth time. "Thank you. I still can't believe that I'm getting married." She beamed happily.

"Yeah, it sometimes takes a while to settle in." Taking a pad of paper and placing it on the desk, Sydney looked up at her potential new client.

"So before we start, there's just some things that we need to get clear. If you decide that you want my help, I'll basically be responsible for planning everything; ordering the cake, catering arrangements, music, venue… everything and anything that needs to planned, will be. And I'll also ensure that it all runs smoothly on the big day." Sydney informed her, twiddling her pen in her hands.

Lauren's smile grew and she nodded. "That sounds great. Me and my husband, Michael Vaughn, haven't got that much time, what with work and everything." She explained, as she stood up and walked towards the window in the office, admiring the view of the Brooklyn Bridge.

Sydney quickly spun around in her chair. "I'm sorry, what is your husband's name?" _It can't be…_

Lauren turned back to face her and smiled again. "Michael, Michael Vaughn."

Sydney stared back at her, as she felt a lump begin to rise in her throat. _He's getting married? _

_Please let me know what you think:)_


	2. Chapter 2

_hey guys! _

_thanks for the great reviews:) _

**soccerfreeek234 ** Yep it's posted at Sd-1 and AllAlias

_**katejones2005** I've never actually seen the wedding planner so i'm not sure! lol but there are some twists coming up... :P _

**Chapter 2**

Sydney continued to stare at her while a million thoughts ran through her head. Lauren watched her curiously, wondering what had caused her reaction.

"Do you know him?" She asked; it was the only possible reason that she could think of. People usually didn't react the way Sydney had when they found out who Lauren was marrying.

Sydney quickly regained her composure and shook her head. "Er… no. The name just sounded a little familiar, that's all." She lied, feeling guilty the minute that she'd finished speaking.

"Oh ok." Lauren seemed to buy her lie. She retook her seat, and smiled slightly.

"Could you just excuse me for a minute?" Lauren nodded and Sydney walked out of the office and towards the bathroom. She splashed cold water onto her face and looked into the mirror, her hands resting on the side of the sink.

"I can do this… I'm a professional." She stared at her reflection. Taking a few deep breaths, she smoothed down her skirt and walked back towards her office.

"Sorry about that." She apologised, as she sat back down.

Lauren smiled. "It's ok. Listen Sydney… I can call you Sydney right?" She nodded. "Before we start arranging anything, I just want to make something clear." She paused, making sure that she had Sydney's full attention. "Money is _not_ an issue with this wedding. I only plan on getting married once, and I want everything to be perfect, regardless of the cost."

"I understand."

"Great. Is it also possible for me to pay you up front? I'd rather pay you now and then I can use the rest of our money for the actual wedding." Lauren started to look in her bag for her chequebook.

During her career as a wedding planner, Sydney had never had a client who had hired her so quickly. Usually she met a couple of times with both partners and talked over a few ideas before any money was paid. Sydney had to admit that there was something about Lauren that was slightly off. Sure, she seemed like a nice enough woman, but there was something in the way that she hired Sydney straight away that amazed her. Before Sydney could voice any of her concerns, Lauren placed a cheque on her desk.

Sydney picked it up and was ready to hand it back to her when she noticed the figure in the corner of the cheque. She had to look twice to make sure that she wasn't seeing things, but no matter how many times she looked at it, the number remained the same.

"Miss Reed…"

"Lauren." She corrected her; her smile still etched on her face.

"Lauren, this is a cheque for 15.000…" _Surely there is some kinda of mistake here…_

"Yes I know." Lauren replied confidently, as if there was nothing strange about what she had just done.

Sydney cleared her throat, her eyes moving from the piece of paper back to Lauren. "This is five times more than what I usually ask for."

Lauren stood up and walked back over to the window. She would never have thought that someone would even think of turning down such a large sum of money and she could tell that if she was going to get Sydney t o do this job, she would have to persuade her further.

"Sydney, I've worked for one of the biggest advertising firms in the city for over 10 years." She remained facing the window, her eyes scanning across the view infront of her. "And if there's one thing that I've learnt doing my job, is that money has an influence on people. The more you pay somebody to do something; the better they do it." Sydney sat silently at her desk, thinking about what she had just heard. What Lauren was saying did make sense to her, but it didn't take away the uncomfortable feeling that had settled at the bottom of Sydney's stomach. "I realise that you may not feel right taking my money, but as I mentioned before, this _will_ be my only wedding, and I want it to be like I always dreamed."

She walked back over to the desk and stood infront of Sydney, her eyes pleading with her. "I've seen your work and I know that you can give me my perfect wedding. So please, will you do this?"

Sydney's eyes fell onto the cheque once again. She knew that she should probably say to no to her, especially considering who the groom is. Bust as she held onto the piece of paper, she found it increasing hard to say no. It was a lot of money to throw away over something that happened in the past.

"Ok, you got yourself a wedding planner."

An hour later, Sydney found herself in Lauren's car, driving towards her home. The home she shared with Michael. After Sydney had agreed to plan the wedding, Lauren had insisted that she meet Michael, and then they could arrange the first few things. Seeing as Sydney had nothing else planned, she had agreed to the meeting. But as she was sitting beside Lauren in the car, her stomach would drop everytime the car slowed down, as she feared that they were at their destination.

Finally Lauren pulled into a driveway. Sydney climbed out of the car and stared at the house. It was a large, 2-storey building, just outside of New York City. There was a swing on the porch, which looked over the front lawn. Sydney was too amazed by the house that she didn't hear Lauren calling her. Lauren called her again, snapping Sydney out of her gaze.

"His car's here, so he should be home." Lauren informed her as they walked towards the front door.

Sydney's heart started racing as she thought about what she was about to face on the other side of the door. She knew that it was too late to turn back now, as she anxiously watched Lauren put the key in the lock.

"Michael?" She called as she walked into the house, motioning for Sydney to follow her.

Sydney took a deep breath and stepped inside. _Well here goes nothing…_

_hehe sorry for the mean cliffhanger :) But they're just too fun! lol please review and let me know what you think:) _


	3. chapter 3

_Hey! _

_thanks for great reviews:) and sorry for the cliffhanger in the last chap...lol i kinda can't help throwing them in hehe. _

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**Chapter 3**

"I'm in the kitchen." He responded, his voice sounding the same as it did the last time Sydney heard it. Lauren showed Sydney where the living room was, while she went to fetch Michael.

Sydney walked into the room and took a quick look around. It felt homely, and was decorated beautifully; not that she had expected anything less. The mantelpiece caught her eye and she quietly wondered over to look at the various photographs that were placed on top of it.

Picking up the nearest picture, she looked down at the two faces that were staring up at her. They both looked so happy; so in love. She heard voices coming towards the room and placed the frame back where she had found it.

_Be professional…_

"Michael, I want you to meet our wedding planner, Sydney Bristow." Sydney ignored the speed at which her heart was beating and turned around. She immediately put a smile on her face and extended her hand.

"It's a pleasure to meet you Mr. Vaughn."

Michael didn't know how to react. Out of all the people that he had imagined planning his wedding; Sydney Bristow didn't even make the list. He couldn't quite figure out why she was greeting him, as if he were a total stranger, when in truth, he was the exact opposite. But for now, he decided to play along with her charade and he shook her hand.

"You two." He stammered, each of his words getting stuck in his throat, which felt like it was getting smaller. Although there was a smile on her face, he could tell that it was fake. She may have been able to fool Lauren but he knew better. He could read her better than anybody else could and even after all this time he could still tell how she was really feeling. Her eyes were cold, especially as she gazed up at him. He could see the hurt and sadness that would probably be forever present in her eyes. He felt guilty that he had been the one to cause her this pain and he had never truly forgiven himself for his actions.

"Why don't we go into the dining room and we can get a few things sorted?" Lauren suggested as she ushered them out of the room. Michael wasn't exactly in the mood to be planning his wedding, especially considering who the woman doing the planning is. But he knew that if he were to try and get out of it Lauren would want answers why; and they were answers that he couldn't and didn't want to give. So he followed them both into the next room and took a seat.

"Sydney, can I get you a cup of coffee?" Lauren stood in the doorway, ready to make some refreshments.

"Sure, I take my coffee…"

"Black." He announced, finishing her sentence before realising what he was doing. Both pairs of eyes fell on him, a different question behind each one. Sydney could feel her cheeks getting warmer and she could see the confused look in Lauren's eyes.

"Michael?" She questioned, wanting to know what he meant by his sudden outburst.

Vaughn could feel his forehead creasing and getting clammy as he tried to think of something to cover up his mistake.

"There was a survey on the radio the other day about how drinking black coffee is the most popular way for people in Manhattan to drink their coffee." He immediately regretted his lie. _Could I have said anything more lame than that?_ He smiled nervously at Lauren, not wanting to see the expression on Sydney's face.

Lauren rolled her eyes. "It's a good job I'm not marrying you for your jokes…I _never_ understand them." She looked at Sydney, who nodded, confirming that she would have black coffee.

Once she was out of the room, Michael turned to Sydney. "What the hell are you doing here?" He asked, keeping his voice as hushed as possible. But no matter how low he spoke; she could still hear the anger in his voice.

"Your fiancée hired me." She replied, her voice sounding just as angry as his was.

"To plan _our _wedding?"

"No Vaughn, the couple down the street." She replied sarcastically just as Lauren entered the room carrying 3 cups of coffee.

"What were you two talking about?" She asked curiously, handing them both a cup.

"Dates for the wedding." Sydney quickly lied, figuring that it would be best if she answered, considering the pathetic excuses that he had come up with seconds before. Lauren smiled as she took a seat opposite Sydney. Sydney took out her diary ready to sort out a date.

"So do you have any preference?" She asked Lauren, trying to limit the amount of times that she had to look or speak to Michael.

"We were thinking kinda early April." Lauren placed her hand over Michael's, who simply nodded. Sydney noticed this little sign of affection and she couldn't help the pang of jealousy that ran through her. She quickly looked down at the diary page, not wanting to see any other displays of affection.

"Well today is October 1st." He paused and stared down at the date. _October 1st…it would have been our anniversary…_

She glanced over at Vaughn and immediately knew that he was having the same thought that she was. She could see it in his eyes; the remembrance, the happiness…the love. She forced herself to continue with her job before Lauren grew suspicious. "That means that we'll have just under 6 months to get everything planned, which will be enough time."

"Great." Lauren replied happily while Michael remained silent. "What about April 20th?" She suggested.

"Sounds good. You getting married in a church?" Lauren nodded. "Ok, well we'll have to contact them first and make sure that they have an opening for that day."

They talked for another 30 minutes; Sydney and Lauren did most of the talking, while Vaughn only threw in the odd word here and there. Finally Sydney glanced at her watch and announced that she had to leave.

"I'll give you a lift back into the city." Lauren offered as the three of them stood up.

"Thanks."

They walked out of the dining room and towards the front door. "Honey, I'll be back in about 30 minutes." Lauren told her fiancé as she placed a kiss on his cheek.

"Bye Michael." Sydney forced a smile on her face for Lauren's sake. Vaughn mumbled some form of goodbye and then they left.

Sydney walked into her apartment to find Francie sitting on the couch with a magazine open on her knee. She looked up when she heard the front door shut and her smile quickly faded as she saw the weary look on her friend's face.

"Sweetie, what's wrong." Sydney sighed and slumped down onto the couch.

"I have had one hell of a day." She closed her eyes and rested her head against the back of the couch.

"What happened?"

"You will never guess who my new clients are…" She opened her eyes and sat up straight, hugging her knees to her chest.

Francie thought for a minute and then her eyes grew wider as her smile reappeared on her face. "Oooo Tom and Nicole?"

Sydney laughed and shook her head. "They are not getting remarried. And besides, even if they were they would probably have some A-list designer person to plan their wedding."

Francie sighed and closed over her magazine, carelessly tossing it onto the table. "Ok, I'm all out of ideas…."

"Michael Vaughn and his new fiancée." Francie's mouth dropped open as a look of shock came over her face.

"_The_ Michael Vaughn? As in your ex-fiancée Michael?" Sydney nodded. "The Michael that you were and still are head over heels in love with, that Michael?"

"I am _not_ still in love with him." Sydney defended although she knew that what Francie was saying was the truth.

"Sydney, it's me you are talking to…"

The room fell silent as they both continued to look at each other. Sydney was determined that she wouldn't agree to what Francie was saying but Francie's penetrating stare finally got too much for her.

"Ok, fine. I'm still in love with him." She admitted and dropped her head down to her knees.

"So then why did you take this job?"

Sydney lifted her head. "His fiancée, Lauren, wrote me a check for 15000!" Francie gasped, her hand flying up to her mouth. Sydney nodded at her reaction. "I know! She told me how money wasn't an issue and then she pays me this much. It's crazy, I feel like I'm organising the wedding of a Prince or something!" If anybody had told her that she was going to be planning Michael Vaughn's wedding, she would never have believed them. She felt her eyes begin to fill up with tears that she had wanted to shed the minute that she heard his name again. Francie moved closer to her and wrapped her arm around Sydney's shoulders.

"But honey, he was _your_ Prince." She gently brushed Sydney's hair off her forehead as her head rested lightly against Francie's shoulders. Sydney's tears slowly began to fall down her cheeks. She shut her eyes, trying to stop them from falling but it didn't work.

"I know." She whispered through her tears.

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_dun dun dun... hehe that's only the first little part of their history...there's more to come:) _

_please review:)_


	4. Chapter 4

**Chapter 4**

Vaughn increased the speed on the treadmill as he continued to run. He always sought refuge in the gym when he needed to think about something. He found that the exercise always helped him to figure things out, but luckily for him, Weiss was at his side to talk about Sydney's return.

"Sydney Bristow?" Weiss told him as he lowered the speed on his machine. He was walking at a fast pace but couldn't quite pluck up the energy to run as fast as Vaughn was. Weiss thought that he would never hear her name again, or to ever see her again, and he imagined that Vaughn had been thinking the exact same thing.

"Yeah how ironic is that. My ex-fiancée is planning my wedding to another woman."

"That's pretty messed up." Vaughn turned to look at Weiss, amazed at his ability to always state the obvious.

"I was against the whole wedding planner idea in the first place, I only agreed to it to make Lauren happy."

Weiss thought for a minute as his feet pounded on the treadmill with every step that he took. "As much as I like Sydney, fire her. Tell Lauren that you're not comfortable with her planning the wedding and hire someone else." It seemed like the most logical thing to Weiss.

"I couldn't say that to her, she'd want to know why…"

"You could always tell her the truth. So you have a past, everyone does. I'm surprised Lauren doesn't already know about you two."

He sighed. "I have considered telling her in the past, but I can never bring myself round to telling her what I did." Vaughn slowed the treadmill down until it eventually stopped. He stepped off it and wiped the sweat off his forehead with his towel as he tried to catch his breath.

"Make up an excuse then, it's not like she'd realise you were lying to her." Vaughn glared at his friend as he directed yet another insult towards his future wife.

"Weiss…" He warned him. Weiss had never really liked Lauren. He was always nice to her when she was around but the minute that she was gone, he would start complaining to Vaughn about his bad choice in women. There had only been one woman that Weiss had approved of, and that had been Sydney.

"I'm sorry." Weiss mumbled but Vaughn knew that he would do it again. Weiss stepped off the treadmill and the two of them walked towards the water cooler.

"Besides, I doubt Lauren would fire her, she seems to like her a lot. Not that I can blame her."

Weiss took a plastic cup and filled it with water, handing it to Vaughn before filling on up for himself. "Ok, so go to Sydney and convince her to quit. Problem sorted." He smiled and drank the water.

"I doubt she's going to want to give up $15 000 just because it's awkward." Weiss spat out his water all over Vaughn's T-shirt, ignoring the disgusted look that appeared on his friend's face.

"I'm sorry, what!"

"Yeah, Lauren told me last night that she'd wrote her a check for that much money." Vaughn took his towel and wiped the water off his shirt, while Weiss's cheeks reddened.

"Dude, I know Lauren makes a lot more money than you do…but that is just ridiculous." Vaughn nodded in agreement. "I mean, I would have planned your wedding for free." He smiled but all Vaughn could do was raise his eyebrow. "Oh yeah sorry I forgot. Like Little Miss Perfection would let me do that."

"Weiss will you stop insulting her. I know you don't exactly like her, but please keep the cheap comments to yourself." Vaughn yelled as he walked away; leaving Weiss standing there stunned. Usually Vaughn tolerated his comments; he even laughed at a few of them. Weiss guessed that right now wasn't the best time to be making Lauren jokes, especially not with the love of Michael's life back in the picture.

Weiss chased after Vaughn and found him opening up his gym locker and taking out his stuff. Weiss took a seat on the bench next to the lockers and looked up at him.

"So how is Sydney?"

Vaughn paused before closing over the locker. "I don't know. She looked great as she always did, but neither of us where really in much of a mood for a social talk." He turned to face his friend. "It would have been our anniversary yesterday…October 1st. It's so weird how I should see her again after all these years, especially on _that_ date."

"You think its fate?" Weiss knew that Vaughn had never believed in anything like that, but to him it seemed like it was fate that brought her back into his life on that particular date.

"Weiss come on, don't start with the whole fate thing. It's just a coincidence."

"It's a pretty good coincidence. Seems like fate to me."

Although he was dismissing the idea, there was something about what Weiss was saying that interested Vaughn and scared him at the same time. He had made a mistake all those years ago, maybe this was his chance to make up for all of that. There had to be a reason why she was brought back into his life, and he was determined to find out what.

Vaughn sat down beside his friend, a question burning away in the back of Vaughn's mind. "Did you know that she was back in New York?" He leaned forward and rested his arms on his legs, his head turned to look at Weiss.

Weiss shook his head. "No. You know how she left for LA after it happened?" Vaughn nodded so Weiss continued. "Well we stayed in touch for a couple of months, talked a lot on the phone, email, I visited her a few times. Even after what happened with you guys, we decided that our friendship was important to both of us, so we tried to stay friends, which is hard to do when you're living on opposite sides of the country." Weiss paused and looked at Vaughn. It was the first time that Vaughn had heard any of this, he wanted to make sure that he was ok with it all. Vaughn threw him a reassuring smile, urging him to continue. He needed to hear the rest of the story.

"I was going to tell you that we were still in touch, I figured that you'd eventually want to contact her yourself. But then you never asked about her, never showed any sign of wanting to talk to her, so I never pushed you into it. I thought that you'd ask when you were ready. Then eventually I stopped hearing from her, the phone calls stopped as did the friendship."

Vaughn could hear the sadness in Weiss's voice. The three of them had been best friends and when Sydney and Michael eventually started dating that didn't change. He could tell that Weiss regretted that they weren't friends anymore, and Vaughn had to admit that Weiss wasn't the only one with regrets.

"The last time I heard from her, she was teaching at UCLA. I don't know why she came back to New York, or why the sudden career change." Weiss shrugged and stood up. He hadn't planned on sharing that much with Vaughn, but he knew that it was what he needed to hear.

Vaughn sat silently, thinking over everything that Weiss had told him. He knew that there were some things that Weiss hadn't told him, that he couldn't tell him, like why she had moved back to the city. He knew that there was only one person who could give him those answers, as well as giving her the answers that she needed to hear from him.


	5. Chapter 5

_hey! _

_thanks for all the great reviews:) _

**Chapter 5**

Sydney picked up the phone and called Lauren's cell number. She sat back in her chair and waited for her to pick up. Thankfully after a few rings she did just that.

"Hello?"

"Hey Lauren. It's Sydney, Sydney Bristow."

"Oh hey Sydney. How are you?"

Sydney grimaced at the way Lauren spoke to her like they were old friends. She rolled her eyes and sighed quietly.

"I'm good. I just called to tell you that I spoke to the church and it turns out they have an opening for April 20th."

Lauren squealed down the phone, and Sydney could feel a migraine coming on. She still couldn't believe that she was going through with planning the wedding, but she figured that the quicker she got it done, the quicker she could move on with her life, and leave Michael Vaughn to get on with his.

"That's fantastic."

"Yeah, it's great." Sydney replied, although she was thinking something completely different.

There was a knock on her office door, as her assistant popped her head through the door. Sydney smiled, thankful for the distraction from Lauren. She quickly told her that she had to go and hung up the phone.

"Syd, there's a Mr. Thompson waiting for you." Stephanie informed her.

"Who?" She had absolutely no idea who she was talking about. She'd never heard that name before.

"Mr. Thompson. He said you'd be expecting him."

Sydney looked at her curiously as she followed her out of the office and into the reception area. She was expecting to see a stranger waiting for her, but instead _he _was there.

Groaning, she shook her head and walked back into her office, hoping that he would go away. He had expected her to react that way, but he had come this far, he wasn't about to give up now.

He threw her assistant a small smile as he followed her into her office, closing the door behind him. She was sat behind her desk, some papers infront of her, but he could tell that she wasn't really doing any work. She was just staring hard at them, refusing to make eye contact with him, or just generally look in his direction.

"Sydney…"

"So you're using aliases now. How impressive." She replied sarcastically, her eyes still glued to the sheet of paper infront of her.

"Well I knew that if I told her my real name then you wouldn't want to see me."

She finally looked up at him, her eyes just as cold as they were the last time they met. "Even with a fake name I don't want to see you…and yet here you are!" She stood up and walked over to her window, her eyes filling with tears that she was determined wouldn't fall, especially not infront of him.

Vaughn looked down at his shoes. He knew that the hurt she was causing him was nothing compared to what he did to her, but her words still hurt him. He hadn't expected her to greet him with open arms; he would never expect that from her anymore. But he had hoped that he would be able to get some answers from her, but judging by the way this was going, that wasn't looking too hopeful.

"We need to talk."

"There's nothing to talk about." She replied quietly.

"Yes there is." He stepped further into the room, his hands dug deeply in his pockets. "Sydney, I know you're hurt, we both are, but there are still…"

"No Vaughn!" She yelled, spinning around to face him. "Don't stand there and tell me how I am. You have no idea how I am."

She was being just as stubborn as she was all those years ago. He knew that this was one fight he wouldn't win.

"Fine, but regardless of whether or not I know how you are feeling, we still need to talk, and that fact isn't going to go away. You can't just pretend that the problem isn't here Sydney."

"Well that's funny, I was doing pretty well up until the moment you walked through the door."

The room went silent. Sydney stared down at her desk, not knowing what else to say to him. Over the years, she had played this situation in her mind, and knew exactly what she wanted to say to him, but now that she had the chance, she just didn't know where to start.

"Please leave." She nodded towards the door but Vaughn refused to move.

Folding his arms across his chest, he shook his head. "Not until I get what I came for."

"Which would be what?"

"Answers."

Sydney laughed. "That's rich coming from you. If either of us should be looking for answers then it's me. You've done nothing to deserve anything from me."

"You want answers Sydney. Then ask!" He told her, his arms waving about infront of him. He was growing tired of going around in circles not getting what he wanted. "You wanna know why I did it? You wanna know if the decision I made still haunts me every day? You wanna know if I still think about you? If I'm still in love with you?"

"NO!" She screamed, not caring that Stephanie was in the other room and could probably hear every word that was being said. "I couldn't care less. I've given up wanting answers from you, you're in my past and I refuse to let you affect any part of my future."

Vaughn was taken back by what she had said. His heart was pounding in his chest as he looked at her, searching for any sign of the Sydney that he once knew. He watched as a tear escaped from her eye and he longed to go and wipe it away, to hold her in his arms like he used to and tell her that everything would be ok. But he couldn't.

"Now get out." She was no longer yelling, but anger was still evident in her voice.

Instead of walking towards the door, he walked over to her. "Why did you move back to the city?" He didn't expect an answer from her, but he asked anyway. She stared blankly at him, her eyes once again filling with tears.

"What part of 'get out' do you not understand?"

"I need to know."

Pointing towards the door, she glared at him. "And I need you to leave."

"Tell me."

"That is none of your business." She turned her head to face the window, as the tears continued to drop down her face.

"SYDNEY!" He yelled and the next thing he knew, she snapped and brought her hand down across his face. She froze, shocked by her own actions. She noticed the red hand print that was now on his left cheek, and saw the look of surprise and upset in his eyes.

"Please leave!" She ushered him to the door, not giving him a chance to say anything. Once he was out of the office she shut the door and slid down to the floor.


	6. Chapter 6

**Chapter 6**

Vaughn walked around the block near his home that he shared with Lauren. He wasn't ready to go home to her and face the questions that he knew were coming about the mark on his face. He replayed the conversation he had with Sydney over and over again in his head, trying to think of something that he could have said to make it end differently. After passing his house for a third time, he still failed to come up with anything else that he could have told her, so he walked up to the front door, ready for the inevitable confrontation.

Once he was inside the house, he walked into the living room and was relieved to see a different person sitting on his couch.

"Weiss, what are you doing here?"

Weiss smiled as he turned to face Vaughn, but his smile immediately disappeared once he saw the hand print on his cheek.

"Well since you disappeared at the gym, I wanted to know where you want. But now, more importantly, I want to know what the hell happened to your face?"

Walking over to the mirror above the mantelpiece, Michael looked at his cheek. "I guess it's really that noticeable, huh?"

"Well d'uh!"

Vaughn sighed and moved to sit on the couch beside his friend. "Where's Lauren?"

"She let me in a couple of minutes ago. She's just gone upstairs to change out of her work clothes." Vaughn nodded at his answer. "So you want to tell me what happened?"

"Let's just say the conversation I went to have with Sydney, didn't quite go as I would have hoped!"

"So she slapped you?"

"No Weiss, I was that frustrated after our conversation that I went outside and slapped myself!" He replied sarcastically, a little harsher than he had intended.

Ignoring his comment, Weiss looked at the doorway, checking that Lauren was no where near before proceeding with the conversation.

"What did you expect? That you'd apologise and then she'd welcome you back with open arms? Syd isn't like that, man. You of all people should know that."

"I know. It just hurts so much to know that I've caused her all that pain, and there's nothing I can do to fix what I've done and stop her from hurting."

Weiss was about to speak again when he heard Lauren walking down the stairs. She came into the living room, having changed out of her work clothes and into a pair of jeans and tank top. She was surprised to see that Michael was home, and she immediately went over to him.

"Hey sweetheart. I didn't realise that you were home." She went to kiss him on the cheek, but stopped as she noticed his cheek. Slowly stroking his cheek, she looked at him with concern visible in both her voice and eyes. "What happened to you?"

He began to stutter as his mind raced for an excuse. His heart was racing in his chest as he avoided making eye contact with him.

"Michael?" She pressed the issue further.

"I er…"

"I slapped him!" Weiss stood up as he made his revelation to Lauren. Her eyes immediately focused on his as she tried to process what he had said. Hers weren't the only pair of eyes set on him, Vaughn was also watching him cautiously, unsure whether he should be thankful or fearful about what was going to happen next.

"I'm sorry, you what?"

"I slapped him." He deliberately spoke slower, knowing very well that she had heard what he said the first time.

"You slapped my husband?"

Weiss rolled his eyes, wondering how many more times he was going to have to spell it out for her. "Yeah, it's just something we do every now and again." He turned to face Vaughn and playfully slapped the other cheek.

Vaughn's eyes widened as he stared at Weiss. _He just slapped me…_

Lauren glared at Weiss and walked out of the room, ready to go and start cooking dinner. Vaughn sighed as she left, his heart rate finally beginning to return to normal. Crossing his arms over his chest, he turned to face his friend.

"You slapped me?"

"Oh don't you start too. It's like that woman can't understand plain English." He groaned as he sat back down on the couch, ignoring the glare that he knew he was receiving for insulting Lauren.

"But you slapped me…"

"Seriously, stop!" Weiss warned. "I saved your ass didn't I?"

Vaughn sat down and was silent for a couple of minutes.

"Thanks." He finally spoke, laughing a little at what had just happened. "And may I just add for the record, you slap like a girl." Weiss picked up the nearest cushion and launched it at Vaughn's head.

"Well if I was to hit you like I would normally hit you, my slap wouldn't look like Sydney's. And we wouldn't want Lauren to be suspicious now, would we?"

"Yeah, because I'm sure she isn't at all suspicious right now." Vaughn mumbled, his head falling back against the couch, as his eyes shut.

"Speaking of Sydney, what are you gonna do?"

Vaughn shrugged. "I have no idea. There's just so much that I want to say to her, but she won't let me."

Weiss could see how desperate his friend was, and knew that there was something he could do to help. "What's the address of her office?"

Sitting upright on the couch, he stared at Weiss, his heart starting to beat faster again. "What?"

"The address of Sydney's office. Why is it that you and Lauren need things to be constantly repeated to you?" He mumbled the last sentence to himself, but Vaughn heard every word.

"What do you want her address for?"

"So I can go and talk to her dumbass."

Weiss had finally been able to get the address from him, and was actually quite relieved to leave the house, seeing as Lauren had been glaring at him at every given opportunity.

He stood outside the building, looking down at the piece of paper in his hand to make sure that he had the right address. Glancing at his watch, he noted that it had only just gone and six and hoped that she would still be in her office.

He took a deep breath, preparing himself for what he was about to do. He hadn't seen or spoken to Sydney for some time, and he was unsure about how time had changed her. He knew from what Vaughn had told him that she was still hurt about what had happened, but he just hoped that she would be happy to see him.

He got out of the elevator on the correct floor and was pleased to see that a woman who he assumed was her receptionist was still sitting at her desk.

"Er…hey. I'm looking for Sydney Bristow?" The woman looked up from her work and smiled at him.

"Miss Bristow is just getting ready to leave. But if you would like to make an appointment, you could come back and see her…" She searched her desk for the appointments book and finally found it, opening it out to the nearest vacant page.

Weiss wasn't prepared to wait any longer to see her. "I'm sorry but this is kind of important. Could you just tell her that an old friend is here to see her.?" He asked, and she considered his question, before telling him to wait where he was, while she went to talk to Sydney.

Sydney was just shutting down her computer when Stephanie appeared in her office.

"Sydney, there's someone outside to see you. He says he's an old friend…"

For a minute, Sydney thought that it may have been Vaughn, using another fake name to try and see her. She quickly dismissed this idea, knowing that Stephanie would have recognised him from his earlier visit.

"Ok." Sydney grabbed her stuff and followed her assistant out of the room, shutting her office door behind her. She looked up at the man standing infront of her and froze.


End file.
